WVU focusing on getting by as a smaller team, while still recruiting
For a guard-heavy roster like West Virginia is currently constructed, the glaring weakness is the lack of size, especially on the interior.
"Size, you’d love to have size and sometimes you don’t have it, so how do you offset it. There’s still a physicality that can make it (size) a more even benchmark for us. That’s the piece we’re growing into and learning to understand, if we’re going to be undersized, you have to do certain things to make sure that we can still survive on the glass, to make sure we can still survive guarding the ball, whatever those things may be. There aren’t any shortcuts to it," DeVries said
Currently on WVU's roster, there is one true center in Eduardo Andre, and then at the forward position is Amani Hansberry, Ofri Naveh, and Tucker DeVries is a combo forward/guard.
Andre stands at 6-foot-11 and Hansberry at 6-foot-8. Naveh is listed at 6-foot-6, while guard Toby Okani stands at 6-foot-8.
Both Andre and Okani bring a presence on defense that isn't able to be felt elsewhere on WVU's roster.
"We are a little undersized but he’s the one guy that length that you need and gives us some rim protection. I like the production he’s been giving us the last few weeks," DeVries said of Andre.
As for Okani, the UIC transfer brings the ability to guard the 1-4 positions as well as the five at times, DeVries said.
"His length and his versatility, and his athleticism, he can guard multiple positions. It’s not just, hey you can only guard a three, he can guard a 1, 2, 3, 4, switch onto a five, have great length there. So I like what that could look like because he’s certainly got the tools to be that," DeVries said.
DeVries has already seen the importance of finding ways to win that are not based on scoring. While some of those ways include rebounding the ball at an efficient rate, he won't let WVU's lack of size affect their approach or play style.
"Even in a scrimmage like [Tuesday], where you see one team get up by 17-18, they’re making shots, the other team wasn’t, but it’s more about how do you stay in those games when you’re not making shots," DeVries said. "That’s why you have to rely on your defense, you have to rely on rebounding, because you’re not going to shoot it well every night. You need to be able to stay in those games and find a way to win. And that’s the best formula, to guard better, to rebound better."
In addition to finding ways to get around the size deficit on the court, DeVries and his staff are still finding ways to attack the problem off the court.
DeVries said the Mountaineers are still recruiting to possibly add to this year's roster, and all signs would point to WVU likely going after a big.
"We’re still very much actively recruiting. There's multiple players that we’re still trying to recruit and get them here by the start of school," DeVries said.
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